Five Moments
by spaciireth
Summary: Five moments when Rose Tyler made Jack Harkness proud. Set during Rose's growing up.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **DW is not mine. Never has been. Never will be.  
**Author's Notes:** I hope I've got all my bits of canon right. Please let me know if I've got something wrong. Also, I shall say now that I am not English, I am Australian, which is about as far away as you can get, so if any Brit-picking needs to be done, please do it. And, yes, it is short.

**Chapter 1 **- _Her First Day Of School_

There was a convenient tree in the school car park, upon which Jack could lean and barely be seen, but could see straight through into the school yard. A hundred or so five and six-year-olds milled around, talking to friends, or, in the case of a few, standing anxiously by themselves.

A blonde ponytail caught Jack's eye. They young girl practically dragged her mother across the yard. "Rose, slow down!" her mother exclaimed, but Rose didn't pay any attention until she reached a circle of girls she obviously recognised. Jackie caught her breath and began speaking to one of the other mothers, while Rose and her friends babbled happily, grinning at each other and jumping up and down every now and then.

After a few minutes, one of them pointed over Rose's shoulder and Rose turned. Following her gaze, Jack saw a small, black boy clinging fearfully to the hand of an older woman, perhaps his grandmother. The other girls were giggling, presumably at some inside joke, but Rose shushed them sternly, one hand on her hip.

A little hesitantly, she approached the boy. Jack moved a little closer to the fence to hear Rose introduce her self. The boy's grandmother smiled down at her and gave her son a small nudge.

"Mickey Smith," he muttered softly, causing Jack to laugh to himself. So this was how they met.

As he leaned back against his tree, he saw Rose take Mickey's hand and lead him back to her group of friends. A couple of them looked a little subdued at Rose's befriending the object of their amusement, but they all seemed to make something of an effort to be nice to him.

Wrapping his coat around himself, Jack smiled. "That's my girl," he said to himself, and turned to leave before he was noticed.

This was the first time Rose Tyler made Jack Harkness proud.

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**A/N:** It's been pointed out to be that Mickey is actually a few years older than Rose... just, take it to be AU, yeah? 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**DW is not mine. Never has been. Never will be.  
**Author's Notes:** This isn't as good as I would have liked, but my own grandma died mid-way through, so I wasn't really in the mood to make it any better, but I thought I ought to get something up and stop all the waiting. Thank you for your lovely reviews of chapter 1... and Mickey will be the right age in future, lol.

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**Chapter 2 **- _Her Grandfather's Funeral_

The church was almost full, which meant Jack was able to slip into the back pew unnoticed. He had come here on a whim: he and Rose had once discussed their families and she had mentioned her Grandad Prentice. When he saw the funeral notice in the paper, he had simply wondered and had turned up to see if he was right. He was.

The casket of Graham Prentice was displayed up the front and in the front pew just to its right, Jack could see Jackie, tightly grasping the hand of her daughter. The rector said the necessary prayers and blessings and then Jackie spoke, her words stilted and her voice choked up.

And then, to Jack's almost-delight (he knew it wasn't right on such an occassion, but felt it anyway), Rose moved to the front. She was nine or ten now, and had grown considerably since that first day of school.

The rector took the microphone from the pulpit and held it down to Rose's level. She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and, unfolding it, began to read.

"Grandpa Prentice was my favourite person in the whole world. I liked watching him roll his cigarettes, and I guess I even liked how he made me watch the cricket with him, even though he _knew_ I didn't like it." At this point, Rose wrinkled her nose theatrically and the congregation chuckled appreciatively. Over the next few minutes, Rose described her favourite memories of her grandfather, not losing her composure for a second. Jackie on the other hand, while smiling proudly at her daughter, had tears streaming down her face.

As Rose left the altar to return to her seat, the congregation applauded. Jack raised his hand to his face in order to scratch his nose and realised one cheek was moist. He grinned. She'd made him cry.

Jack slipped out of the church just before the coffin was taken out, but he hung around just long enough to see Jackie pick Rose up and hug her tightly, before he ducked away so as not to be seen.

And this was the second time Rose Tyler made Jack Harkness proud.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**DW is not mine. Never has been. Never will be.

**Author's Notes:** Don't ask me what gave me the idea of making Rose the lead singer of a band... it just came to me one night, lol. Sorry it's been a while, I've been on holidays, and been really busy even while I've been home.

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Rose was a bundle of nerves, that much was obvious. This surprised Jack a bit; she'd always been so remarkably cool and confident, but then, this was her band's first gig so it was natural for her to want everything to be perfect. She was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to help fellow band members get set up, but really just making a nuisance of herself. 

For the past three months, Rose and the other three members of TRAM (so named from the first initials of its members, Tim, Rose, Adam and Mel) had been meeting in Adam's garage (he was the only one of them who had one - the rest of them lived in flats), perfecting covers of several of their favourite songs and learning a few of Tim's originals. It had been Adam's father who had secured them this gig: a friend of a friend of his owned the youth venue and had agreed to give the group a go.

Jack sat at a table towards the back of the room - while he had a perfectly convincing fake ID that stated that he was under the age of thirty, whether he looked it or not, and therefore allowed in the club, he didn't want Rose seeing him four years before she was supposed to.

Finally, everything was set. Ian, the club owner, introduced the group and they took their places - Adam on the drums, Mel and Tim on bass and lead guitars respectively, and Rose at the front on the mic.

They opened with a cover of _Nothing Else Matters_ by Metallica. Jack had to concede that the song sounded… different when sung by a girl, but he liked it all the same. The rest of the crowd seemed to agree, because they applauded wildly when the song was over. Rose was grinning from ear to ear - for her, the evening couldn't have started any better. Tim's songs seemed to get an even better response than the covers over the course of the night, and soon his grin was rivalling Rose's.

Two hours later, the gig had finished and TRAM had packed up. Rose was on her way to the Ladies' when Ian stopped her, close enough to Jack's table that he could hear their conversation.

"You were great, Rose, congratulations," he complimented her.

"Thanks," she smiled, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"I was wondering whether you and the others would perhaps like a regular spot here each week?"

Rose's eyes widened. "Really?" she squeaked.

"I'll have to talk to your parents, get a few official things out of the way, but I'd love to have you. And I think everyone else loved you, too."

Rose was virtually speechless. "That would be… that would be fantastic!" she finally exclaimed.

"Great. You let the others know. I'll be in touch."

"Okay!" Rose continued in the direction she had been going, but Jack noticed there was a definite bounce to her gait now. As she disappeared into the ladies' room, Jack stood up, and stretched. He knew that he wouldn't be able to return for any of Rose's future gigs in case she began to recognise him, but he was pleased he was there for her first one.

And this was the third time that Rose Tyler made Jack Harkness proud.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Moving?! But… you can't just move!"

"Rose, it's dad's job. The whole family's going, it's not like it's just me."

"But what about us? What about TRAM? We need you!"

"Rose, I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. It's all planned. We're leaving in a couple of weeks."

Rose and Melissa were sitting on the swings in a park near Rose's apartment block. It was where they often came when they wanted to talk away from Tim and Adam. Melissa's news that her father's business was transferring him to Edinburgh had come complete out of the blue as far as Rose was concerned and it was clear that she was not only upset that she was losing her best friend, but incensed.

Jack stood behind his tree and waited; if he knew Rose, he knew she wouldn't accept this without a fight, and a moment later, he was proved right. She jumped down off her swing and grabbed Melissa's arm, pulling her off hers, too.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To tell your dad he's an idiot."

"It's not his choice!"

"Then to tell his boss!"

Jack followed at a safe distance, and on the opposite side of the road where possible. After about twenty minutes, Rose and Melissa stopped in front of a three storey office building. Melissa tried to convince Rose to leave well enough alone, but Rose's attention was caught by two men emerging from the office in almost identical business suits.

"Mr Ashton," she addressed Melissa's father, "have you thought about how the rest of your family feels about moving to Scotland?" Mr Ashton tried to tactfully avoid Rose's question and side-step around her, but she pressed on. "Mel's a member of our band! We need her! You can't just cart her off like this, it's not fair! Where are we going to find another bassist as good as her?"

Mr Ashton was beginning to lose his patience. "Rose," he snapped, "quite frankly, where you find your new bassist is not my problem. Now, please, get out of my way, I have a meeting to get to on the other side of town. Melissa, in future, tell your friends that if they want to yell at me, that's fine, but they are not to do it whilst I am working." With that, he pushed Rose roughly aside and got into his car, the man in the other suit accompanying him.

As the car moved away, Rose yelled, "I won't let you do this!" and shook her fist theatrically, before Melissa whispered something to her which caused her to reluctantly calm down and accompany her in the direction of home.

Jack allowed himself a small smile. He knew from one of the many conversations he and the slightly older Rose had had on board the TARDIS that Melissa's family did move to Edinburgh, so her outburst had had no effect.

Nevertheless, seeing her stand up to someone bigger and more powerful than her was the fourth time Rose Tyler made Jack Harkness proud.

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**A/N:** Sorry I took so long, everyone! University is my excuse for everything these days, it's crazily busy and I have assignments and things so … yeah. Plus this idea was only vague in my head and took a bit of sorting out. Hopefully the final one shouldn't take too long.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **DW is not mine. Never has been. Never will be.

**Author's Notes: **So, uh… what's a year among friends, right? I'm sorry! I have no excuses, I'm just a rather gifted procrastinator. Yay for and their accompanying website… it's been a while since I watched "Rose" so their transcript of the episode came in very handy for this chapter. I know the last line of this is a bit cheesy, but… sometimes I like cheese. :P Also, thanks to my friend Kirrilee for checking it over before I posted.

**Chapter 5**

"If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from the North?"

"Lot's of planets have a North."

Jack knew this was the time around which he had to be the most careful of not being spotted by Rose, or particularly the Doctor, but he couldn't help the desire to watch their meeting as it happened. He grinned when he heard the Doctor's response to Rose's questions; how many times had he heard it during his own time with the Time Lord?

Rose had recounted hers and the Doctor's first adventure with the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness to Jack during their time on the TARDIS together, so he knew exactly where the events took place. Though it was highly tempting, he knew he couldn't follow them any further than the Millienium Eye… It was too risky to get any closer. Instead he watched from the street as Autons terrorised the general population, once or twice helping people get to safety. He knew he really should be letting that take precidence over his secret watch on the Doctor and Rose, but this was the last time he was ever likely to see her, and hence he only waited around for what he deemed to be roughly the right amount of time before he made his way to the alley where he knew he would soon see the Doctor, Rose and Mickey emerge from the TARDIS. As he walked, he watched the Autons freeze in their tracks, some just becoming still and lifeless, but most toppling over where they had been standing.

He arrived in the alley just in time to find himself a hiding spot before he heard the familiar whirring of the TARDIS. He heard Mickey's whimpering soon afterward, and Rose telling him he was a fat lot of good during their whole ideal, then going on to inform the Doctor that he had been useless and that he'd be dead if it weren't for her. While the Doctor admitted this at the time, and thanked her, Jack recalled the many times they had argued this point in front of him, both trying to come out superior. He knew enough of the story to know that what Rose said was true enough, but he still liked to humour the Doctor every now and then.

Jack risked being seen as he heard the Doctor give his initial invitation to Rose. She sounded very unconvinced as she turned him down, and Jack heard the great disappointment in the Doctor's farewell. He watched as the TARDIS dematerialised and as Rose dragged Mickey to his feet and lead him on his way, mentally counting down the seconds until the sound of the TARDIS again filled the air as the Doctor rematerialised.

He grinned as he heard the "Did I mention it also travels in time?" quip and even allowed himself a small chuckle at Rose's short conversation with Mickey before she sprinted towards the TARDIS and through the door. He started to walk away from the alley with the sounds of the TARDIS' machinery ringing in his ears, a sound he missed all too much. He cheered himself by thinking of the moments of Rose's life he had witnessed, and the time his past self would spend with her future self while they both travelled with the Doctor. He was incredibly proud of her, and would never cease to be.


End file.
